A former employee of a U.S. defense contractor shot dead one American colleague and wounded another in the Saudi capital Tuesday, officials said, in a rare attack on Westerners in the kingdom.

The alleged shooter, Abdulaziz Fahad Abdulaziz Alrashid, 24, "worked at the same company as the victims, and was recently dismissed from his job due to drug related issues," Riyadh's embassy in Washington said in a statement.

The military court adjourned on Tuesday the trial of suspects charged with terrorism and the killing of Lebanese soldiers near the southern city of Sidon last year after two of them, including a footballer, failed to attend the hearing.

The trial of the detainees and fugitives was adjourned to November 18. One of the suspects, a Roumieh prison inmate, refused to attend the session at the military court, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Iran hit back Tuesday at demands from Saudi Arabia that Tehran withdraw its "occupying" forces from Syria and insisted no country was more committed to confronting jihadists in the region.

The two regional powers have been at odds over Syria since unrest broke out in 2011, but the unusually high-profile exchange threatens to undermine a recent diplomatic push to patch up their differences.

The emir of Qatar held talks with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Monday night, official media said, while both Gulf nations battle Islamic State extremists in Syria.

The Saudi monarch received "his brother" Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani at the palace in Jeddah on the Red Sea, the Saudi Press Agency said.

Syria's main opposition bloc failed to agree on a prime minister during a weekend summit in Turkey, participants said, the latest setback for a coalition long beset by internal divisions.

A member of the National Coalition who declined to be named said the biggest dispute at the Istanbul meeting centered around a split between the favored candidates of vital funders Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

U.S. and Saudi warplanes carried out eight air strikes in Syria on Sunday and Monday, mainly targeting Islamic State jihadists fighting for a key border town, the U.S. military said.

Bombers and fighter aircraft hit IS positions in seven strikes around Kobane, the scene of heavy fighting between the jihadists and Kurdish rebels near the Turkish border, U.S. Central Command said.

Iran must withdraw its "occupying" forces from Syria to help resolve that country's conflict, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Monday after talks with his German counterpart.

"Our reservations are about Iran's policy in the region, not about Iran as a country or people," Prince Saud said at a joint press conference in the Red Sea city of Jeddah with Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Gulf monarchies taking part in U.S.-led air strikes against the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria could deploy special forces on the ground but only if certain conditions are met, analysts say.

Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have joined air strikes on the IS, which has seized swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji is expected to tackle next week the aid granted to the Lebanese military with U.S. and Saudi officials, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday.

According to the daily, Qahwaji will travel to the United States to persuade senior officials to grant the Lebanese army U.S. weapons.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called Saudi Arabia’s foreign affairs minister Tuesday and "clarified" his diplomatic gaffe in which he suggested Saudi Arabia and other key allies had financed the Islamic State group, the White House said.